Joining the office of Industrial Facility requires certain qualities beyond a design education. We are always interested in people with informed backgrounds and a worldly view. Currently we have no staff vacancies. Internships are available generally for 3 months. Interns should ideally be in full-time education, with a school to return to. We do not financially support internships other than local travel expenses. Independent sponsorship should be sought. Please e-mail us your application (no more than 1MB) stating your preferred period to:

This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Credits

This website was designed and built byStylo Design in collaboration with Industrial Facility.

All content in this website is for personal reference and not to be reproduced, copied, manipulated, projected, used or altered in any way, alone or with any other material, or by use of computer or other electronic means without permission.

All texts within pdfs are the copyright of Industrial Facility or their relevant authors where indicated.

Industrial Facility was formed in 2002 to explore the junction between industrial design and the world around us. Our office designs objects of varying purpose in relation to their spatial, cultural and performative landscapes for international companies operating in international markets. Clients value our deeper contribution to their design and business thinking and often incorporate resultant project directions into their broader future. Areas of work include products, furniture, exhibitions, transportation and clothing. The office has emerged as one of the most progressive and creative design offices working in industrial design.

“Industrial Facility creates new identities for lost objects.” Wallpaper magazine, September 2008

Industrial Facility was formed by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin to investigate and contextualise objects so that their potential for progress is revealed. Our staff includes Japanese Designer Ippei Matsumoto, who joined the office soon after its formation and German Designer Philipp Von Lintel. Hecht and Colin have run teaching programs at the Royal College of Art. Hecht has been a Visiting Professor at HfG Karlsruhe and in 2009 he became a Royal Designer for Industry and nominated for the Prince Philip Prize. The office was given its fifth iF Hanover Gold Award in 2014 and won the Designs of the Year award for Furniture in 2011.

“Industrial Facility is on our side – the side of the end-user. And boy do we need them.”London Evening Standard, 2008

Working with Industrial Facility is straight forward. We work with international companies of all sizes in a wide ranging set of industries, from tableware & kitchen products to furniture and lighting, electronics and appliance design. Recently, we have also found ourselves tackling projects for interiors, public furniture, medical devices and exhibitions. All of our worldwide clients share a belief in making things better, which invariably helps to make life better too. To help to understand the structure of Industrial Facility and how we work, we have put together answers to ten common questions put to us.EnglishGermanKoreanJapanese

Joining the office of Industrial Facility requires certain qualities beyond a design education. We are always interested in people with informed backgrounds and a worldly view. Currently we have no staff vacancies. Internships are available generally for 3 months. Interns should ideally be in full-time education, with a school to return to. We do not financially support internships other than local travel expenses. Independent sponsorship should be sought. Please e-mail us your application (no more than 1MB) stating your preferred period to:

This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

We have compiled a collection of high resolution images that can be accessed with login details.

To obtain your login, please email
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
with a request that includes publication name and intended use.

To accompany the IF4000 range of knives, a knife rack seemed a relevant product. But it needed a ‘useful but odd’ character which was very much the interpretation of the company itself.

The Knife Rack presents itself as a simple strip of wood mounted on a wall. When a knife is attached to it, the usfulness becomes visible. The product uses the strength of layered Bamboo in combination with five submerged magnets.

In discussions with Alastair Fisher, director of Taylor's Eye Witness, the subject of low-cost cutlery sold in supermarkets was approached, which could best be described as poorly made pseudo-craft that uses mass-produced methods of production. The cheaper the cutlery, the more grandiose it tries to present itself. The conversation was extended with Muji Europe, who agreed to partner in the production of a low-cost everyday set of cutlery, similar in principle to the conditions of Mono Cutlery designed by Peter Raacke in Post War Germany, where resources were limited.

To do this, Industrial Facility set about looking into a very different direction – not to mimic quality, but to elevate the vernacular of disposable plastic cutlery.

The first experiment was to literally make a transfer of material in our workshop. The result of turning plastic cutlery into metal showed just how beautiful these unseen designs were. It was then a process of refining them, and editing the place setting down to four pieces – including a spork (a combination of a spoon and fork).

A lot of knives are shaped to fit the hand with what could be called pseudo-ergonomic aesthetics, the claim being that they position a form into a hand perfectly, yet this approach limits the many different ways we actually hold and manipulate a knife. With IF4000 the simple tapered oval was resurrected, which means that even with the eyes closed, you know which way the handle is facing. For the materials and processes, the blade uses a technique of precision-forging and grinding which allows a smoother transition between blade and handle. For the handle, an investigation was made to find a ‘cool’ material, rather than a ‘warm’ plastic. After much testing, a white polyester and melamine composite seemed to work. This was followed by a black version, with slight adjustments to the blade, in 2007.

Ever since its invention in 1929, the Chantry, manufactured by Taylor's Eye Witness, has been one of the world’s most popular knife sharpeners. The design of its casing has been updated over the years, but the internal mechanism of two small butcher’s steels precisely angled and spring-loaded, to ensure that they sharpen the knife rather than grind it, has remained intact.

Industrial Facility was asked to ‘modernise’ the then current design, executed by the late Robert Welch, hence the name ‘Chantry Modern’. Welch’s design had a certain character, but he favoured the idea of the sharpener resembling a cooking object – rather than a machine.

Small alterations in size and weight were made to make the product stable enough not to require fixing to a table top. The advantages of the new design are numerous, but the most enduring feature is that the cook’s hand is now well away from the cutting area, resulting in a more safe and graceful product.